NYCHA Health Corps Members Honored for Service to Their Communities
In June, NYC Service held a recognition ceremony at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens to celebrate 120 AmeriCorps Members for their work serving their communities during the 2023-2024 season. NYCHA Health Corps Members were also acknowledged for their service working in public health and health equity in NYCHA communities.
NYCHA Health Corps was launched in 2022 to provide NYCHA residents with full-time training and work at community-based nonprofits and public agencies to improve health outcomes across public housing developments. Twenty residents graduated from the first cohort; this second cohort included 38 residents who served 10 months. The program is administered by NYC Service in partnership with NYCHA.
“The impact you have had has been tremendous,” said NYC Service Chief Service Officer Laura Rog. “AmeriCorps offers the opportunity to truly change the world. You all have touched and served 39,000 New Yorkers. Your collective power as a cohort has truly shaped the city for the better. Your heart, your skills, your talents will continue to make a difference.”
NYCHA Health Corps is a Public Health AmeriCorps program from AmeriCorps and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recruits and trains the next generation of public health leaders to address public health needs nationally.
“We are appreciative of your work efforts to make NYC more equitable and healthier,” said AJ Pearlman, AmeriCorps’ Director of Public Health AmeriCorps. “We believe this program is training the next generation of leaders in NYC. Thank you for showing up, standing up, and deciding to do the hard work to serve your community. You put compassion into action and made a significant difference; you are all part of a team of 2,000 health corps members serving in every state, and DC, Puerto Rico, and Guam. New York is better because of you.”
NYCHA Health Corps Member Precious Love spent her service term working at Lincoln Hospital with NYC Health + Hospitals. Ms. Love said, “The steps for success are hard work, dedication, learning, studying, sacrifice, passion, and loving what you are doing.”
Her recipe for success paid off: She recently began a new role as a community health worker at Community Healthcare Network in the Population Health Department, where she will implement programs, promote wellness by helping people adopt healthy behaviors, and advocate for people with limited access to health resources and social services.
In addition to Ms. Love’s partner site, there were 17 host sites for the second cohort. Some of those sites included Every Day is a Miracle, Health People Inc., the NYC Health Department, Staten Island Partnership for Community Wellness, and the Lower East Side Girls Club, as well as NYCHA departments that included Resident Health Initiatives, Family Partnerships, and Resident Relocation.
In addition to on-the-job work experience focused on improving health outcomes in neighborhoods across the city, NYCHA Health Corps receive approximately 200 hours of learning and professional development in public health, a living allowance of up to $23,800, an education award up to $5,176, a MetroCard for commuting, and more.
“The end of year ceremony was an amazing culmination event,” said Marco Vela, NYCHA Health Corps Coordinator for NYCHA’s Department of Resident Health Initiatives. “Being able to witness the achievements of so many Corps Members on display and seeing the impact they were making in creating healthier outcomes for New Yorkers was great. The benefit of [the program] is a workforce development opportunity which allows for a positive impact on health in the communities where they reside.”
The next cohort of NYCHA Health Corps will start serving across NYCHA communities this September. To learn more about NYCHA Health Corps, visit https://www.nycservice.org/nycha_health_corps. To stay up to date on other training and employment opportunities, visit NYCHA’s Resident Economic Empowerment & Sustainability Office’s website at http://opportunitynycha.org.